Aids activists in Africa have targeted Coca-Cola for the launch of a campaign to demand that multinational firms supply their HIV-positive workers and families with anti-retroviral drugs.

The newly formed Pan-African HIV/Aids Treatment Access Movement, headed by leading South African campaigners, has called for a global day of action on October 17 to put pressure on Coca-Cola, which it describes as Africa's single largest employer.

The campaign is also targeting mining firms which have promised to supply their South African workers with drugs to combat Aids but are not offering similar help to their employees on the rest of the continent.

"Coke is one of the biggest companies on the continent. It has a responsibility to treat its workers," said Sipho Mthathi, a spokeswoman for the movement.

"We are also targeting mining companies like AngloAmerican and De Beers because they are committed to treating employees in South Africa but not in the rest of Africa. A lot of these companies have elicited wealth from the energies of African people and given very little back.

"We are by no means shifting responsibility from governments. But we are saying you cannot only leave the responsibility to governments. Public institutions and companies must take their responsibility in the fight for treatment of HIV/Aids."

About 28 million Africans are infected with HIV. Very few receive anti-retroviral drugs or other significant care. The treatment access movement - a coalition of 21 organizations from across Africa - argues that simply to allow them to die constitutes a crime against humanity when multinationals have the resources to help, at the very least, their own workers and their families.

Among the key players in the movement is South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign, which has won a series of significant court victories against President Thabo Mbeki's Aids policies.

They culminated in a constitutional court ruling that the South African government must supply drugs to pregnant women that can help prevent HIV-positive mothers passing on the virus to their newborn children.

The movement also attacked the pharmaceutical industry for "profiteering and patent abuse" that it said has contributed to death and suffering in Africa.

Coca-Cola's spokesman on Africa could not be reached for comment.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

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